Obama to videotape national weekly address

President-elect Barack Obama will deliver his national weekly radio address by video Saturday, a step his transition office said he intends to make permanent and which will be a first for a U.S. president.

“No President-elect or President has ever turned the radio address into a multimedia opportunity before. This is just one of many ways that President-elect Obama will communicate directly with the American people,” said Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro, in an e-mailed statement.

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The video will be placed on YouTube.com and posted on the Obama transition homepage, change.gov. Mr. Obama will continue to do videotaped statements when he moves into the White House, Mr. Shapiro said.

Mr. Shapiro said that videotaped statements will “make the White House and the political process more transparent.”

The Washington Times’ Christina Bellantoni presciently wrote one week ago today that Mr. Obama would conduct a “YouTube presidency.”